The arrival of spring and Earth Day is a great excuse to get outside (assuming you can, and with social distancing, of course). Nonstop screen time from our digital, quarantined lives makes us even hungrier for the physical and mental renewal nature can bring. And although we have fewer options for outdoor activities, we may still find smaller pleasures: buds on a tree, flowers peeking through the ground, the music of birds, or simply the opportunity to put the snow shovel away.
The current social constraints have upended our lives, but if we look closely, the convergence of Earth Day and Coronavirus can bring to light unexpected insights about the interconnectedness of the environment and human society—connections embodied in two topics I’ll address here: equity and our relationship with the environment.
Let’s begin with equity. While the shift to online learning has highlighted long-standing racial- and socioeconomic “digital divides,” there’s another injustice that likewise affects low-income, communities of color: environmental injustice. Outdoor activity is possible for people who don’t have access to clean air or a safe green space. This parallels the systemic disparities surrounding access to medical care, full-service grocery stores, and other essentials many people take for granted. These health-related inequities can contribute to high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, and other diseases that increase vulnerability to the Coronoavirus—a disturbing reality reflected in the virus’ disproportionate impact on people of color.
A second insight from Coronavirus Earth Day concerns humans’ evolving relationship with the environment. In contrast to indigenous practices grounded in interdependence, “modern” society champions its accomplishments at taming nature to serve its aspirations through ever more impressive “victories”: We’ve overcome limitations of animal-powered agriculture and soil fertility by mining fossil fuels to power equipment and draw nitrogen from the atmosphere. We’ve cleared the landscape for transportation and commerce by blasting through mountains, redirecting waterways, and paving the earth. We’ve enabled instantaneous global communication by harnessing the power of electromagnetic forces. We’ve even landed a man on the moon and probed the depths of space. And while we can debate the costs and benefits of these breakthroughs, they undeniably demonstrate humans' capacity for learning—skills we’ll certainly need to develop a cure and vaccination for the virus. But the unexamined exaltation of our grandiose mastery seems questionable—even foolish—when we step back and realize that a microscopic organism has brought the world to its knees. Is it time to temper pride over our conquests with humility about our vulnerability?
The Coronavirus has imparted painful lessons about equity and our alleged mastery over nature. It shouldn’t take a global pandemic to teach us these lessons. But now that we know, we can’t unknow—and that means we must step up by holding institutions accountable, exposing problematic mindsets, and engaging as citizens to change underlying, entrenched systems.
We’ve learned the hard way that this problem threatens us all. Let’s see this as an opportunity to find solutions that unite us all.